An Apple supplier is once again in the crosshairs of the China Labor Group, a New York-based labor rights watchdog that now alleges wage and safety violations at multiple plants owned by iPhone and iPad partner manufacturer Pegatron.

In a report released on Monday, the non-profit details Pegatron's alleged breach of Chinese regulations governing workplace safety, withholding of worker pay, and sub-par living conditions, reports Reuters.

According to CLW, the Taiwanese company is breaching Chinese and international labor laws, as well as Apple's own supplier standards, at three factories in Shanghai and Suzhou. From March to July, the workers' rights group performed an undercover investigation inside factory walls and interviewed almost 200 employees to gather information for the report.

"The Pegatron factories are violating a great number of international and Chinese laws and standards as well as the standards of Apple's own social responsibility code of conduct," the report claims.

The Wall Street Journal noted on Sunday that CLW found the manufacturer instated workweeks that often exceeded an Apple-specified 60-hour limit, while some employees had their pay withheld for working short shifts. Apple told the publication that it knew certain labor brokers were withholding worker ID cards and demanded Pegatron resolve the situation.

"We strive to make each day at Pegatron better than the last for our employees," Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng said in a prepared statement. "They are the heart of our business. That's why we take these allegations very seriously.""We strive to make each day at Pegatron better than the last for our employees" - Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng
In addition to the alleged worker-related offenses, Pegatron subsidiaries also reportedly dumped metal-cutting fluids into local sewer systems.

"Their latest report contains claims that are new to us and we will investigate them immediately," Apple said of CLW's claims. "If our audits find that workers have been underpaid or denied compensation for any time they've worked, we will require that Pegatron reimburse them in full."

For its part, Apple said it has performed 15 comprehensive audits at various Pegatron facilities since 2007, some being "surprise" audits conducted within the past 18 months. The audits were part of Apple's Supplier Responsibility initiative, which holds suppliers and manufacturers to a Code of Conduct for safe and ethical working conditions.

Apple has struggled to deal with reports of unethical, and sometimes illegal, treatment of workers by its Chinese partners, including recent accusations against Foxconn involving underage hiring. Perhaps garnering the most press was a 2012 episode of popular radio show "This American Life." The program aired an Apple-centric monologue by performance artist Mike Daisey, who painted a bleak picture of working and living conditions at a Foxconn plant. Daisey later admitted to fabricating the much of the story, and the episode was retracted.

More recently, the Cupertino company has reportedly been looking to diversify its supply chain away from Foxconn, with Pegatron reaping the benefits. It was reported in May that the supplier would be taking on an additional 40,000 workers to handle production of Apple's rumored low-cost iPhone model. Current estimates put Pegatron's workforce at around 70,000 people.

It is Monday and another great start to the week for Apple! Does Pegatron supply parts to companies other than Apple? Even though I have not read the New York Times article, I am leaning on the side that Apple is either the only or is primary parts purchasing customer the article focused on. This is an industry-wide problem, not just an Apple problem! I doubt any other news outlet will mention another customer like Amazon, ASUS, Blackberry, Google, Hauwei, Hewlett Packard, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, ZTE. Extending this, how clean are the suppliers in the New York Times supply chain? Will the company provide a detailed audit of its supply chain for the world to read and hold only it accountable for infractions while excluding the Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today, etc.?

It is Monday and another great start to the week for Apple! Does Pegatron supply parts to companies other than Apple? Even though I have not read the New York Times article, I am leaning on the side that Apple is either the only or is primary parts purchasing customer the article focused on. This is an industry-wide problem, not just an Apple problem! I doubt any other news outlet will mention another customer like Amazon, ASUS, Blackberry, Google, Hauwei, Hewlett Packard, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, ZTE. Extending this, how clean are the suppliers in the New York Times supply chain? Will the company provide a detailed audit of its supply chain for the world to read and hold only it accountable for infractions while excluding the Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today, etc.?

EXACTLY!!! I want these headlines to read "Multicorp supplier, which includes Apple, ..., Pegatron..."

They did the same thing with Foxxcomm... which is also a multicorp supplier.

You don't want to make me curmudgeon, you would not like me when I am curmudgeon. I go all caps, bold, with a 72PT font and green lettering.

OMG who cares! They want to use slave labor, that's fine by me. Let the chinese companies deal with the chinese government. Somebody must have missed a "payment" to a local bureaucrat and now they will pay!

Doesn't Pegatron manufacture the Nexus 7 and Surface tablets among a bunch of other non-Apple products?

Doesn't matter. Apple has used genetic engineering to clone little Chinese fetuses who are put to work while still in their test tubes. They are born knowing only work and have been chemically altered to think that working 27 hours a day is the only way they will be happy. They have no ambition beyond serving The Apple. They have no goals beyond not leaking anything from The Apple. There is only work. There is only Apple.

Doesn't Pegatron manufacture the Nexus 7 and Surface tablets among a bunch of other non-Apple products?

Why, do you think that those are selling in such huge quantities, that they require more than 60 hour work weeks to keep up with demand, like with the iPad?

j/k

At least some Windows tablets are made by them, yes.

To me, this kind of thing is exactly why suggestions that Apple should build their own China factories will never happen. It's bad enough being a customer and getting dinged for problems. It'd be even worse to be the owner.

To me, this kind of thing is exactly why suggestions that Apple should build their own China factories will never happen. It's bad enough being a customer and getting dinged for problems. It'd be even worse to be the owner.

Indeed. Plus they'd have to negotiate more directly and more often with Chinese government officials. Foxconn and its ilk take care of that right now, and shields Apple (and other companies) from this dirty work.

But as far as analysts jumping on this, I'd argue it's the journalists who are prematurely ejaculating over the labor situation. Analysts don't seem to care too much. CLW is doing what it does. They will name Apple, Nike, Samsung and Li Qiang's grandfather if it helps their cause. I don't blame them for that. Some day, generations of Chinese workers will remember Li and his ilk for what he did in their name. Journalists, however, should have no cause but to report fairly. It's fair to name Apple as a company that has to continue to be more diligent. It's fair to write about this issue. It's not fair to misconstrue Apple's role or to use Apple's name to invite eyeballs. For sure, it's not fair to use labor as a means to undermine Apple for "political" gains.

Doesn't matter. Apple has used genetic engineering to clone little Chinese fetuses who are put to work while still in their test tubes. They are born knowing only work and have been chemically altered to think that working 27 hours a day is the only way they will be happy. They have no ambition beyond serving The Apple. They have no goals beyond not leaking anything from The Apple. There is only work. There is only Apple.